


Kaunimad Laulud

by phyripo



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 1980s, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Historical
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 13:45:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phyripo/pseuds/phyripo
Summary: There is music in Estonia's history, and there is power in music; Eduard knows that much. Living in Soviet-occupied Tallinn in the late 1980s, he knows a change is coming, and knows he needs to help in the best way he can; through music.The Singing Revolution is on the way.





	Kaunimad Laulud

**Author's Note:**

> And so I bring my second claim for [A Brief History of Time](https://aphabriefhistoryoftime.tumblr.com/tagged/timeline/chrono), because this particular bit of history fascinates me and is pretty much the basis for half of Estonia's personality when I write him???
> 
> Both the fic itself and the chapters are named after the six rock songs that were important from the mid-eighties onwards in that they were very much patriotic and would have been forbidden by the Soviet government had it not been for Gorbachev's policies of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (free speech). The title of the fic means "The Finest of Songs". You can listen to it [here](https://singingrevolution.com/img/TSR/pages/audio/11-filename.mp3)! (Honestly, all those songs are _nice_.)

# 1987

There is a lot of music in his country’s history, Eduard knows this. Some of his earliest memories are of traveling to Tallinn to attend the five-yearly Song Festival, of listening to the seemingly endless repeating of “Mu isamaa on minu arm” while holding both his parents’ hands. He didn’t know then why they would hold so tight, but the feeling it gave him still resonates when he hears the song.

He lives in Tallinn now, having left his family behind in the small village where he grew up in search of—something. He wasn’t sure at the time.

There is music in Tallinn, as there is in the rest of Estonia, but here, it resonates through the narrow streets of the Old Town day and night, seems to overlay the cobblestones and the towers and float around the people, especially those Eduard’s age.

The Song Festival grounds seem much bigger when empty even though he’s an adult now; he’s passed by them only once since moving, and it made him feel humble. He stood there for a while at the time, the sea roaring at his back, his hair whipping into his face, slapping against his glasses, before he got back on his bike and continued back to the city.

Eduard has found his place in the city easily enough, has quickly gathered some like-minded people he considers friends. They all agree that something is _brewing_ ; while they have differing opinions of what _exactly_ it should lead to—the people singing rock songs in the town square or combining banners into their illegal tricolor—that much is undeniable. Eduard knows he wants to be part of it, and maybe that is really why he came to the capital.

He is Estonian, and Estonian he will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mini prologue,, but yes the title means "Estonian I Am, and Estonian I Will Be", and you can listen to the song [here](https://singingrevolution.com/img/TSR/pages/audio/9-filename.mp3). The song “Mu isamaa on minu arm” (Land of my Fathers, Land that I Love) is a song based on a poem by Lydia Koidula, which was set to music for the first ever Song Festival in 1869 (and to new music during the first festival under Soviet occupation in 1947). During the festival of 1969, it was sung multiple times in the face of Soviet orders to leave the stage, by over a hundred thousand people, choir and audience members alike. So that's,, the soundtrack of the Estonian will for independence, pretty much.
> 
> Also the Estonian Song Festival (Laulupidu), which for some reason I always assume everyone knows about, is a huge thing, one of the biggest choral events in the world, with around 30,000 participants. Honestly, I've seen the stage and the size of it kind of scared me! There is one next year, 2019, and I was warned that, should you want to come to Tallinn to see, you should book your hotel _now_ lest the whole city is Full.


End file.
